There But For The Grace of God
by Amicitia
Summary: When docked with a commerce station Trance is arrested for the crimes of her people.
1. A Forgotten Past

Title: All Alone  
  
Author: Amicitia (Aurora15@angelfire.com)  
  
Rating: PG-13 ( There's a little bit of *touchy feely* in some future chapters, but not really in the first, and a little bit of swearing)  
  
Summary: When the Andromeda visits a planet with a scattered past, Trance is arrested for the crimes of her people.  
  
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. Please don't sue, I'm a High School freshmen, I have to money.  
  
Author's Notes: This is first fanfic period and I haven't had anyone beta read it yet, so please be nice. If you wanna download it, fix it, and e-mail it back to me, feel free. Oh, and I'm a Trance/Harper shipper, so of course, in my story there will be the beginning's of a relationship blossoming.  
  
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The Andromeda had docked on the commerce station orbiting the planet of Plarisis. Dylan was meeting with the Plarisian Ambassador to discuss the Plarisian's signing the charter and joining the New Commonwealth.  
  
The Plarisian's were a desert people, and Plarisis itself only had a water content of about 35%. But it also contained a powerful healing agent that was extremely hard to mind and it would add provoke other planets and systems to join if Plarisis were a part of the New Commonwealth. The race itself had almost grainy skin that seemed to match the very planet itself. And they had large water storage sacks hanging just below there jaw line for easy access, which made them speak as if their mouths were full, Dylan had to strain his ears to hear what the Ambassador was saying. They were not the most pleasant looking species. But then again, neither are the Magog.   
  
  
"Plarisis used to inhabit a double planet system. But our sister planet of Rodana was destroyed approximately one hundred years ago by an alien force and we have been rebuilding what was destroyed from the blast since then. Because much of the debri from the explosion collided with our planets surface."   
  
The Plarisian Ambassador explained their planet predicament to Dylan as they walked together down Andromeda's corridor's to the command deck.  
  
"You're lucky the explosion didn't destroy Plarisis' orbit completely. How was Rodana destroyed." Dylan asked, he was a bit worried but didn't let it show on his face. If there was another race that could destroy a planet besides Andromeda and the Nietzschean's. They could have even more problems to deal with.  
  
The Ambassador hung his head solemnly as if reluctant to talk about what had happened. He sighed as he depicted the destruction of his sister planet.  
  
"Maybe a decade before Rodana was destroyed, our people made first contact with an unknown species that called themselves the Serilans. There planet was "off the beaten path" if you will and they had been traveling for some time trying to find planet with sentient beings.  
  
He paused, as if he had to collect his thoughts as to how he was going to phrase what he was about to say.  
  
"There ship was a generational one, there were approximately 30 elders from the original crew, maybe 20 adults, 25 some odd teenager's, 15 children, and several women on the ship were pregnant."  
  
At this Dylan stopped, it was very rare to risk being pregnant in space, let alone give birth. The low gravity was dangerous to the fetus.  
  
"They risked pregnancy in space?" He asked, trying to confirm his suspicions.  
  
"They had altered each one of there physiologies at birth so that their children grew in pods for approximately 85 year, the pods protected the fetus from the danger's of space travel. While the mother's could continue about their work without the problems of pregnancy in their way."  
  
"85 year?" Dylan asked, he had heard of long term pregnancies in some species but 85 years was a little much.  
  
The Ambassador nodded his head. "Their average life-span was about 120 years. They would become pregnant at about age 15 and by the time there children were born, taught how to run the ship and then turn 15, it would be about time for the parents to die.  
  
"So what happened to Rodana?" Dylan didn't want to wander from his original question.  
  
"Captain...I think there is something you should know about the Serilans. They had...unnatural abilities."  
  
Dylan stopped when he heard the edge in the Ambassador's voice.  
  
"They had an uncanny ability to be able to see different outcomes and possibilities for the future. Precognition if you will."  
  
They continued walking as the Ambassador continued. "Needless to say our scientists were very intrigued, if we could harness this races ability we could, theoretically...."  
  
"Predict the future...." Dylan finished for him, not quite liking where this conversation was going.  
  
"Precisely Captain. We asked the Serilans if we could perform brain scans on several members of their crew to determine the cause of their precognitive abilities, but they refused. Our government was not happy with their utter lack of gratitude for our help. So they told us to try to sway them to help us, and if they still wouldn't cooperate, then to use force."  
  
Dylan turned and grabbed the Ambassador's arm, a look of shock written all over his face. "You enslaved them?"  
  
The Ambassador's face was a mask, showing no emotion, no regret or shame. Nothing to persuade the Captain that he was sorry for what his race had done.  
  
"Well Captain we couldn't very well let such a wonderful opportunity slip through our preverbal fingers now could we?" His face showed the features of a man telling a child the facts of life, as if this was common knowledge, and continued. "But that is not important, what is important is that they dared to runaway! They stole one of our prototype battle ships and escaped Rodana's orbit."  
  
"Then how was Rodana destroyed?" Dylan thought he already knew the answer to that question, but he wanted to see the man next to him squirm with shame. He had never really been a revengeful man, except when Andromeda was involved. But the things this man's species had done to this race was unforgivable.  
  
"About eight years later the Serilans returned, they had behind then an entire battalion of ships I'm assuming they brought along to help them, with the promise that they would give them some of our healing herbs. And they blew Rodana to hell! Three billion of my people died that day. And it has been taught to school children ever since that one day we will find them and make them pay!"  
  
Dylan was restraining himself from attacking them man standing in front of him. How dare he be so arrogant. Dylan was beginning to re-think whether or not he wanted this man and his people to be a apart of the New Commonwealth.  
  
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On the command deck of the Andromeda Ascendant, Harper and Trance were looking after the Andromeda while Tyr, Beka, and Rev were on the commerce station and Dylan was discussing diplomacy. They were completely unaware of the dialogue that was going on between their Captain and the planets Ambassador.  
  
Harper was once again fixing the ever tiresome slipstream drive, that seemed to break everytime they docked somewhere where he could have a little fun. And Trance was watching over the sensor, which at the moment were doing nothing but sweeping back and forth. So instead he was swinging back and forth in the ships piloting chair playing with her hair.  
  
Harper peeked out behind one of the access panels to the slipstream drive on Andromeda's command deck to see Trance suddenly stand up and start fiddling with her fingers nervously.  
  
His sparkly purple friend had been acting strangely ever since they had entered Plarisian space, and had become even more stressed since they had entered Plarisis' orbit. She had refused to meet the Ambassador that the Plarisian Republic had sent to Andromeda and Dylan had had to make an excuse that she was ill. Personally he didn't blame her, the Plarisian's weren't exactly the most homely looking creatures in the galaxy.  
  
As he watched Trance pace he leaned back and look at her from top to bottom appraisingly.   
  
She was wearing tan shorts that cut off high along her thigh and a tight multi-colored tank top that accented her.......NO! He would not think of her that way! Trance was his best friend. But lately he had found himself being more and more attracted to her.  
  
DAMN HIS STUPID MALE DRIVEN HORMONES!  
  
Trance noticed Harper looking at her from his place on the floor of Andromeda's command deck. But she avoided eye contact with him for fear that he would see the termoil behind her emotional eyes.  
  
Trance had never told anyone about her family, about her past. She was afraid that they would get caught in the crossfire between her and her past. And she would not, for any reason, let them get hurt because of her. It's why she had never really let the rest of the crew into the little forcefield she had put up around herself. But as she looked at Harper, and the longing that was hidden that was behind those beautiful blue eye's, her heart reached out to him.  
  
She was finding it harder to deny her feelings for him. But she knew she had to. As much as she loved the rest of the crew, Harper held a special place in her heart. She could not loose him.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a beeping sound from the sensor console. She hopped of the pilots chair and ran over to see what the cause of the alarm was.  
  
"Uh...Harper....you better come look at this."  
  
Harper's head snapped up at the sound of Trance's voice calling his name. He walked over to the console where Trance was standing to see what she was talking about. He soon realized that it was only a cargo ship leaving port from the planet's commerce station. He smiled at her innocence and nievety. It was rare in this day in age, one of the many reasons he loved her.........oh shit......he loved her.....this is not good, not good at all. Beka was gonna kill him.  
  
"No worries Trance babe, it's just a supply ship leaving the station, you remember. The good old days on the Maru, performing salvage runs for the highest bitter. Those are just our kindred tryin to make a livin.  
  
"That's all?" Trance looked at him with worried eyes.  
  
"That's all." Harper reassured her. But do to his recent revelation he was suddenly very aware of how close he was to her. His arm was placed around her and down next to her hand on the sensor console. Which brought his chest very close to her back. He was tactfully trying to retreat so that he didn't freak her out when, to his great surprise, Trance leaned into his chest.  
  
You should not be doing this, you should not be doing this!!!! Trance's mind screamed in protest against of her actions in the past several seconds.  
  
But the close proximity had been too much for her and she had finally given into the emotions she had been feeling for the past couple months. She could no longer just be his friend, the tension between them was too strong. A small smile spread across her face as she realized he wasn't pulling back.  
  
Harper slowly but deliberately placed his hand on hers and slowly ran his hand up her arm to rest just below her shoulder sending tingles throughout his body. He was using every ounce of will he had not to give into his raging hormones, spin her around and kiss her passionately.  
  
Trance's tail flicked back and forth gleefully. But there little world was shattered as Dylan walked onto command. Apparently arguing with the Ambassador the Plarisis government had sent.  
  
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Dylan walked onto command to see Harper and Trance standing by the sensor console looking rather tense. He brushed it off. He had other things to worry about. He had spent the past 20 minutes arguing with the Ambassador, trying to convince him that what they had done to the Serilans was wrong, and desperately wanted to change the subject. There was no getting through to him.  
  
"Ambassador. You have already met my engineer, Seamus Harper. This is our science officer Trance Gemini.  
  
The Ambassador looked up at the two young people in front of him. One was the young man he had met earlier, and the other was....."  
  
"Captain! What is the meaning of this!"  
  
"The meaning of what?"  
  
"That girl! She is of the race that destroyed Rodana! Guards! To the command deck of the Andromeda now!"  
  
"What are you doing Ambassador!?" Dylan asked, assuming his intimidating Captain role.  
  
"This is Plarisis space Captain. That girl will atone for the crimes of her species!"  
  
TO BE CONTINUED  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Remorse

Author: Amicitia  
  
Rating: Pg-13  
  
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, please don't sue. I'm a freshmen an high school, I have no money.  
  
Summary: While Andromeda is docked on the commerce station of a planet with a scattered past, Trance is arrested for the crimes of her people.  
  
Author's Notes: This is the second part of my first fanfic ever, so don't be too cruel. Oh, and I am a Harper/Trance shipper, so there's gonna be some Harper/Trance shippiness.  
  
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"Wait a second Trigger, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Harper yelled in outrage. Who the hell did this guy think he was! Trance would never hurt anyone, she wouldn't know how.  
  
"Get out of our way boy! Her species destroyed an entire planet! She must pay!" The Ambassador was turning a couple shades lighter than a tomato. And Harper didn't think he was going to be able to keep this guys goones back for much longer.  
  
Harper looked into Trance's eyes to find some hint as to what he should do. But Trance's face was a masked as she looked from the Plarisian Ambassador to the guards that had just arrived.  
  
Dylan finally spoke up. After his outburst against the Ambassador before, his the Plarisian guards were keeping an unusually close eye on him. "Ambassador I think we should sit down and talk about this. After all, Trance can't be held responsible for a crime her species committed over a century ago." Dylan wasn't about to let Trance go with this man without a fight. Knowing how his species felt about hers, he didn't trust them not to just kill her. And he had a feeling that Harper would be even less likely to release her into the custody of the man standing before them.  
  
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Why hadn't she told them about her species, she was so secretive about her past. Had she thought they wouldn't understand, they were standing up for her right now! Now she would never see them again. The Plarisians would never let her go.  
  
"Captain, I promise you that your crewmate will have a fair trial. It will be mentioned that she wasn't alive when the atrocity was committed, I promise you."   
  
"Yeah like that means anything from you, you arrogant, self-righteous......" Harper was interrupted by Dylan, who was attempting to rectify the situation.  
  
"Ambassador, I'm sure we can come to some sort of an agreement on this matter." Trying to remain as calm as possible. How dare this man come aboard his ship and try to arrest a member of his crew.  
  
"We will come to an agreement after the trial Captain. And if you try to stop me, my guards have no problem defending themselves and me."  
  
Dylan knew at a glance that he, Harper, and Trance alone would not be able to take down the massive guards that the Ambassador had called to the command deck.  
  
"Ambassador, if we agree to this, and that is a big if. One of the members of my crew will be with her at all times while on the planet."  
  
"That is unacceptable Captain. We have strict laws about how to deal with situations such as these. The girl will have no contact with outsiders until the trial is over." The Ambassador wove his hand in the direction of the guards, gesturing for them to take Trance.  
  
Trance had been silent throughout the entire ordeal, but at this display of force she cowered behind Harper and Dylan almost thought he had heard a quiet whimper.  
  
But Harper had heard it and when he saw he fear in Trance's eye's he stepped in front of her to face the guards. "You stay the hell away from her you sick sadist, she hasn't done anything wrong." Harper said, with a confidence in his voice that he rarely showed.  
  
No, I will not let him die for me. Trance stepped out from behind Harper and walked toward the men that the Ambassador had sent for. But Harper stopped her by grabbing her arm.  
  
"Trance....." Harper looked at her pleading his eyes for her to wait for them to figure this out.  
  
"Harper...this is the only way." She raised her hand and ran it down his face. A tear trickling down from the corner of her eye. She leaned in close and kissed him ever so gently. And then she whispered something that Harper had longed to hear for months now, but in all likelihood he would never hear it again. "I love you."  
  
And with that she turned around and into the arms of her awaiting captures.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED   
  
  
  
  



	3. Revelations

Author: Amicitia  
  
Rating:PG-13  
  
Disclaimer: No copyright infringemnt intended, please don't sue. I'm just a highschool freshmen, I have no money.  
  
Summary: While the Andromeda is docked with a commerce station. Trance is arrested for the crimes of her people.  
  
Author Notes: I'm glad you guys like this story, it's my first fanfic and you guys are really boosting my confidence. Rated PG-13 for language, but not too much. I'm a big Harper/Trance shipper so there's gonna be some Trance/Harper shippiness.  
P.S. My computer's busted and I'm working off my friends, so it might be a while before the next installment of this story.  
  
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"Don't worry Captain, we'll take care of the little murderer for you." One of the guards grunted as he and his fellow companions began to take Trance off the deck.  
  
Dylan had not time to react as Harper lunged himself at the retreating guards with hate in his eyes. "You shut up! You don't know her, you have no right to make that kind of judgement!"  
  
Harper didn't get three feet from the guards when one of them strpped in front of him and threw him helplessly across the command deck.  
  
Harper landed in a heap next to the slipstream pilot chair of the Andromeda. 'Damn that hurt'. He had a pounding headache, which wasn't suprising considering he had been thrown across a room. Hard.  
  
The guards surrounding the Ambassador chuckled and turned to walk off command.  
  
Harper turned bright red at his outburst. His mind flashed back to Earth, when he was eight. He had been sick. Again. But his friends had forced him to play a game of soccer. Within five minutes he was out of breath. They laughed at him the same way these men were laughing at him now. Rage burned in Harper's eye's as he lunged after them again.  
  
But Dylan was quicker, anticipating Harper's second outburst the Captain grabbed Harper around his waist and held him back. "Harper I promise you we'll get her back. But I need you here, and alive, to hack into their systems." Dylan whispered into Harper's ear so that the Ambassador would not hear.  
  
Harper just stood there frozen, as the Ambassadors guards dragged Trance, his beautiful Trance, down the hallway of the Andromeda's corridors. Their eyes locked and a single tear fel down her purple cheek.  
  
"Rommie, signal Beka, Tyr, and Rev. We need them up here." Dylan told the ship A.I., still holding a struggling Harper back.  
  
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Trance was barely conscious as she was thrown into the damp cell on the Plarisis homeworld. She had been dragged onto a supply ship and locked up for almost six hours. She would have been gratefull for the chance to stretch her legs if it weren't for the fact that her predicament had gone from bad to worse. She was now in a cell that, while it was bigger than the one on the ship, it was damp and cold. She could feel the mud squishing between her toes, and there was almost no light. Save the little that was coming through a crack in the steel block that served as the cell door.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" Trance jumped as she heared the voice behind her. She turned to find that there was no one there. But as she looked closer she could see that the figure washiding in the shadows. All Trance could make out was a hind slightly larger than her own. A purple hand.  
  
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"What do you mean she was arrested!" Beka stood in the middle of Andomeda's Command deck literally fuming in anger. How could they let this happen, it was Trance! She wouldn't even hurt a fricken fly!  
  
"It wasn't exactly planned Beka, the Ambassador just came in and arrested her." Dylan stood in front of the shocked faces of Andromeda's dwindling crew. It had taken almost six hours for Beka, Rev and Tyr to get back to the Andomeda because shuttles were moving slowly up to the commerce station where the Maru was docked due to Trance's arrest.  
  
"Well you should have done something!" Beka was visibly turning three shades of purple and Dylan was afraid she was gonna do something drastic like Harper had. "Beka, we're gonna get her back. Ive already got Harper working on hacking into the planets security systems."  
  
It was then that Tyr finally spoke up. "Dylan, in my experience, when a race that had such an atrocity commited against them has a chance for revenge, they don't care whether the person arrested is innocent or not. All they care about is that they get their revenge. The girl will act as a marder. Nothing more."  
  
"Dylan...Did you say you left Harper alone to hack into the planets security systems?" All heads turned to see Rev standing at the sensor station on Command.  
  
"Yes...Why?" Dylan asked, fearing he already knew the answer.  
  
"Because the Eureka Maru just left the Hangar Bay."  
  
"He must have hidden his actions from my sensors, I didn't even detect him until he was already out of the hangar." The holo-image of Andromeda's A.I. popped up next to Dylan.  
  
"Shit."  
  
  



	4. Carpe Diem

Author: Amicitia  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, please don't sue. I'm just a highschool freshmen, I have no money.  
  
Summary: While the Andromeda is docked with a commerce station. Trance is arrested for the crimes of her people.  
  
Author Notes: There will be some more Harper/Trance angst in this chapter, gotta love it : ) Rated PG-13 for language, but not that much.  
P.S. My computer's busted and I'm working off my friends, so it might take a while for the next chapter to come out.  
  
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Harper set the Maru's flight controls to land on the far side of Plarisis's orbit. He didn't want to tip off the Plarisian military that he was even trying to get close to the Plarisian main military base. Which was where they were most likely to be keeping Trance.  
  
He picked up a transmission coming from the direction Andromeda was positioned. He flicked on the Maru's communications equipment and prepared himself for the onslaught that he was about to receive from both his bosses.  
  
"Harper, turn the Maru around right now and I promise that I won't kick your scrawny ass across the Milky Way the second you get back." Beka's menacing voice spoke volumes, and Harper cringed at the anger it contained.  
  
"Sorry boss, but I'm not gonna sit all nice and comfy up on Andromeda while Trance is down there with those people who are doing God knows what to her."  
  
"Harper, I know you care about Trance, I care about her just as much as you do. And I understand that you want to get her back. But you can't just go down there half cocked with no plan."  
  
"AND YOU CAN'T GO DOWN THERE WITH MY SHIP!  
  
Harper clicked off the Maru's communications connection to the Andromeda and flew a bit faster towards the planet so that if Beka and the others came after him, at least he would have a head start.  
  
"No, you don't understand." Harper muttered under his breath as he flew down to the planets surface.  
  
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"I asked you who you were, girl."  
  
It had taken Trance a while to come to terms seeing in the dim light of her cell.  
  
He was much taller than she was and had obviously been a fighter once. For there were remnance of muscles that had once bore the arms of a warrior. It had been so long since Trance had seen another member of her species that she almost didn't believe he was really there. She hadn't thought that any other Serilans had left the colony on there ship.  
  
"Tr...Trance...Trance Gemini," straining to keep her voice level, Trance fiddled with her hands.  
  
"Well Trance...My name is Orion Eyre...Welcome to my nightmare...Welcome to hell."  
  
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Harper landed the Maru on the outskirts of one of the planets more rural towns. He had taken a transport pod that should have gone to the "big recycling bin in the sky" years ago, to one of Plarisis's main transport terminals. Where he had taken yet another transport to the city where the Plarisian's main military installation was, Quintal.  
  
Harper stepped off the transports rust colored platform onto the busy streets of the city. All around him sandy colored Plarisians were buying, selling, talking.....you average every, day business. But there was an air to the place that sent chills up his spine. His suspicions were confirmed when he over heard a conversation between two bartering Plarisians.  
  
"You think they'll just kill her? Or do you think they'll actually go through the whole trial?"  
  
"Either way she'll die. No one on this planet will vote for her to be let go. Maybe they'll finally kill the other one off as well."  
  
"I hear she came here with friends."  
  
"As if they'll be able to do anything to help her. Security will be so tight that no one will ever get through. Besides...rumor is that she was with those idiots who are trying to rebuild the Commonwealth. Ha!"  
  
The two Plarisians walked away from the merchants little stand. Leaving Harper to contemplate what the two had just said. What had they meant by the other one. Harper had also learned that the general public of Plarisians, at least the two that he had just over heard, thought that Dylan, the Andromeda, and his crew were a crock. And that they don't want to join. And in Harper's experience, when the general public disagreed with something, the government usually went along with them.  
  
None of that mattered right now though, from what he over heard, the Plarisian government might not even give Trance a fair trial. He had to find her before they did something to her.   
  
Like kill her.  
  
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Trance had spent the past half an hour listening to Orion recall his story of how he had come to Plarisis, not knowing that this was the planet their species had visited so many years ago. About how, when he had docked with the station he had been arrested immediately and brought into the custody of the Plarisian military.  
  
He had been beaten and locked up in this cell. He had been here for five years so far and had never even seen the light from the systems twin suns.  
  
"They never even gave you a fair trial?" Trance asked, showing her obvious dismay in her brown eyes.  
  
The older man chuckled. "You stupid girl, how can you be so naive? Even if they had given me a fair trial it wouldn't really have been fair. They would have found me guilty no matter what evidence I had to the contrary, and it's not like I would have had an attorney."  
  
Trance's head was spinning, 'how could any civilized race blame such a tragedy on people who had nothing to do with it?' She knew that the others would come after her, if not Dylan and Beka and Tyr and Rev, then Harper would. She knew Harper would.  
  
"My friends will be coming for me, they can get us out of here."  
  
"YOUR FRIENDS?......YOUR FRIENDS! You stupid girl, no one gets out of this place. NO one. Security was tight enough with just me in here, but now they have two of us. Security will be twice as tight now. Your friends won't get anywhere near us. Besides, I have no where to go. They killed my family, my wife, my son. I have been waiting all these years for them to kill me. To end it all, but they haven't. They enjoy watching me suffer"   
  
It was then that Trance realized that the broken man in front of her was merely a shell. She could see that the death of his family had nearly killed him. She couldn't even begin to imagine one of the people on the Andromeda dying.   
  
"I...I am so sorry. I..."  
  
"I don't want your sympathy. Besides, if your friends really are going to attempt a rescue, you'll know soon enough what it is like to lose a loved one."  
  
Orion turned and moved back into the shadows. Leaving Trance reeling from his verbal assault  
  
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Harper had walked the streets of Quintal for over an hour, all the while fearing that Beka and the others would find him and drag him back to the Andromeda. But atleast he had finally found the Plarisian military installment.   
  
He had plugged his neural-port into the buildings security system and had found that Trance was being held in a maximum security cell in the center of the complex. This was gonna be harder than he thought. He had also learned that she wasn't alone. She was being held with another of her race, an Orion Eyre. If he was going to do this then he was going to have to do it when the guards changed stations at 9:00, other wise they didn't switch again until 9:00 the day after tomorrow, and by then.   
  
It may be too late.  
  
At 9:00 that night, Harper crawled into the access duct above the air shafts of the Plarisian military base. The ducts were and dark cramped, and Harper was having a hard time moving through the tunnels without making a great deal of noise.  
  
"Ah shit..." Harper banged his knee on a dented wall inside the access duct. "Wonderful Seamus, why don't you just announce to the world that you're trying to break in." He crouched down inside the duct when he heard voices below him.  
  
"Did you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what? I think you're hearing things again Terran."  
  
"No...It sounded like someone cussed."  
  
Of course, by now Harper should have learned that the universe just does not like Seamus Zelazny Harper. Because it was at that moment that the duct decided to collapse in on itself and send Harper crashing to the ground.  
  
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Trance covered her eyes as they adjusted to the light that was shining through the opening in the front door. She could barely make out the outline of a very muscular Plarisian, when the guard threw a body in through the opening.   
  
As the guard closed the door, Trance eyes once again adjusted to the darkness of their cell. And when they did Trance could see who the body was....  
  
"Harper!" Trance bent down on her knees and felt below his jaw line for a pulse, supporting Harper's head with her tail. She let out a sigh of relief when she found one and that her friend was OK. She laid his head on her thighs, stroking back a piece of sweat ridden blond hair from his forehead.  
  
Harper let out a moan as he roled onto his side, looking around he let his eyes adjust to the unusual darkness. He looked up to see Trance cradeling his head between her legs. It was then that he realized that he had one heck of a headache. He tried to sit up but became dizzey and laid back down again.  
  
"Hey sleepy head, have a nice knap?" Trance smiled as she looked down at the young engineer.  
  
"Oh yeah..It's not a normal day in the life of Seamus Zelazny Harper without getting knocked out and waking up in the arms of his beautiful, purple, best friend."  
  
Trance giggled at the comment as she helped Harper up into a sitting position.  
  
"Oh man have I got a headache."  
  
"Yeah well that's what you get for trying to come and be my knight in shining armor." Trance smiled and turned towards the back of the cell.  
  
"Hey Trance, you OK." Harper walked over and wrapped his arms around her placing his head between her head and shoulder. He looked up and saw a single tear sliding down her purple cheek.  
  
"Trance come on, talk to me." He hugged her tighter as she began to cry underneath his embrace. "All those people....All those people dead." Her body began to rack with sobs as her crying turned into a devistated weeping.  
  
"Trance...Trance..come on, look at me." Harper turned her around and looked into her brown eyes that were slowly turning red from tears.  
  
"It wasn't your fault, you weren't even born yet, and from what I gather, your people had every right to be pissed off. I mean, I know I would be if I was held prisoner against my will." Harper leaned in and gave her a reasuring kiss on her forehead. "Everything will be just find, Beka and Dylan and Rev, heck even Tyr will come looking for us eventually."  
  
It was then that Trance and Harper heard a sturring from one of the corners of their cell.  
  
"Well isn't this sweet, two little love birds. But you're wrong about one thing boy."  
  
"Oh? And what is that?"  
  
"Everything will not be alright, you think the Plarisians are just gonna leave us here. They have three captives for the same cause. They're going to kill us and put us out on display for all the public to see. We won't stand a chance, and if your friends do actually come to rescue you, they will die along with us."  
  
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Next chapter coming soon......as soon as I get my computer fixed.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. Smoothing the Soul

Author: Amicitia  
  
Rating: PG-13 (for language, but not much, and some violence)  
  
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended, please don't sue. I'm just a highschool freshmen, I have no money.  
  
Summary: When the Andromeda is docked with a commerce station, Trance is arrested for the crimes of her people.  
  
Authors Notes: There wasn't much Harper/Trance angst in the last one like I said there was going to be, but the story took a different direction. There will be a little more violence in this one than before. This is sorta the climax of the story.  
P.S. My computer is still busted so I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.  
  
*************************************************************************************  
  
"We should have heard from them by now." Dylan paced pensively back and forth on the Command deck of the Andromeda with his hands clasped behind his back, his knuckles almost turning white.  
  
"Knowing the boy, the little genius probably screwed up and is sitting in a cell somewhere." Tyr spoke up from his position on Andromeda's slipstream chair.  
  
"We should have gone after him. I mean, this is Harper, who knows what he's gotten himself into." Beka was standing on the inner corner of the entrance arch of Andromeda's Command deck fiddling with her comm.   
  
"We couldn't have known what he was going to do, Beka." Dylan had stopped pacing and was searching the sensor equipment for any sign of the Maru.  
  
"Umm..." Rev started as he walked onto Command. "I do not me to start yet another quarrel between you but I believe that we indeed should have guest what Harper would have done."  
  
"Oh...and why is that, did the Divine give us some unspoken clue." Tyr replied sarcastically.  
  
"Indeed, I believe it did. We should have known about his reaction from the way both he and Trance have been acting for the past couple of weeks."  
  
Dylan turned around to face the Magog standing before him. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I could be wrong of course, but it occurred to me that they have been acting rather strange around each other lately."  
  
"Rev...elaborate please."  
  
But before Rev could answer it was Tyr that spoke up. "He means that our youngest crew members have been 'screwing' behind everyone's back."  
  
"No, by the Divine...no that's not what I mean at all. I just mean that the two of them seemed to care for each other a great deal more than they were letting on."  
  
"Of course.....dammit..why didn't I see this...I'm the Captain, I'm supposed to know my crew." Dylan stopped, placing his head in his hands.   
  
"Dylan, you couldn't have known, I didn't even know, there was nothing to know. Trance and Harper are the most secretive people on this ship. If they didn't want us to know something, they have all the skills and practice to keep it from us." Beka placed a comforting hand on Dylan's shoulder. "Besides, even if we had known, how could we have known that Harper would pull something as crazy as this?"  
  
Beka paused as she remembered Dylan's first words. "What do you mean 'of course'?"  
  
"When I walked onto Command with the Ambassador, they were...close...not just friends close,, if you know what I mean. And even if it had been, they jumped away from each other far too quickly for it to be just 'friends' close."  
  
"Dylan...I don't mean to interrupt, but we have an incoming transmission from the planets surface." Rev said from behind the Andromeda's sensor console.  
  
"Patch it through."   
  
The Plarisian Ambassadors face filled the Andromeda's view screen and he had a sour look on his face. "What is the meaning of this Captain, I told you that we would give your crew member a fair trial."  
  
"I don't think I understand what you mean Ambassador."  
  
"I mean the member of your crew, the young engineer, that infiltrated our military installation last night."  
  
"Ambassador, I guarantee you that I did not know about his actions until it was too late to stop him."  
  
"I would like to believe that Captain. But unfortunately the public does not. And our High Counsel will not risk riots in our cities."  
  
"What do you mean Ambassador?" Dylan was beginning to worry that he already knew the answer.  
  
"The Serilan and the engineer will be executed at dawn as an example that our people will no longer tolerate being... The Ambassador paused, an incredulous look on his face. I believe the human phrase is, 'pushed around'."  
  
*************************************************************************************   
  
"And who, pray tell, are you?" Harper asked as Orion stepped out of the shadows of their cell.  
  
"Oh! I forgot! Trance said in an apologetic tone. Harper this is Orion, he has been here for five years." Trance grabbed Harper's arm and pulled him over to where they were out of Orion's ear shot. She then turned to whisper in Harper's ear. "They killed his wife and son."  
  
"Oh." Harper muttered under his breath.  
  
"So..is this the 'friend' that is supposed to come and rescue us?" Orion said in a sarcastic tone.  
  
"Umm...yeah."  
  
"Huh....gee..what a rescue..you have my eternal thanks."  
  
"Hey look buddy...." But Harper didn't have time to finish his sentence as the door to their cell creaked open to reveal yet another muscle bound guard.  
  
"You two, come with me," the Plarisan guard pointed to Harper and Trance.  
  
Orion stood up and faced the guard. "And what about me?" He asked, an anger and hatredbehind his green eyes, but all the while, pleading with them as well.  
  
"High Counsel says that you're to stay here."  
  
"No, please, no more cell." Orion then proceeded to lunge at the guard screaming, "NO MORE CELL!"  
  
But Orion didn't get five feet from the guard before he pulled out a gun and shot Orion in the stomach.  
  
"NO!" Trance screamed and tried to rush to Orion's side. But Harper grabbed her around her waiste and held her back. "There's nothing you can do Trance, he's gone." Harper whispered comfortingly into her. "No...." Trance quivered, tears running down her cheeks.  
  
"Stupid old man."   
  
Trance turned on the guard with a look on her face that scared even Harper.  
  
"You shut up! You didn't know him! You killed his family! He had nothing else to live for!"  
  
"How touching, come on, the High Counsel requests milord and milady's presence in the Justice Chamber." The guard said mockingly.  
  
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"What do we do now!" Beka yelled from the corner of Andromeda's Command deck.  
  
"I'm not going to wait around for them to execute two members of my crew. Tyr, Beka, get some weapons...we're going down to that planet." Dylan ordered as he walked of Command.  
  
Tyr and Beka looked at each other and then followed Dylan off the deck, leaving Rev standing by the sensor station.  
  
Rev made a short prayer and turned back to his duties. "May the Divine protect and watch over them."  
  
*************************************************************************************  
Trance and Harper were led by their guard to a large, official looking room, decorated with royal and judicial tapestries, where five elder looking Plarisians sat behind a large wooden table.  
  
"These are the two perpetrators you asked for." There guard said as he stepped aside, exposing Trance and Harper to the scrupelating gaze of the Plarisian elders.  
  
Each of the elders had colorful saches across there chests, bearing the Plarisian crest on the upper corner. The two on the end of the table wore purple saches, while the two next to them wore red. But the Plarisian in the middle wore a white sach the seemed to bear great importance because the other Plarisians seemed to cower away from him.  
  
The elder in the middle of the group stood up and walked around the side of the table to come face to face with Harper and Trance.   
  
"You know...you only made it worse for the both of you by trying to rescue your little friend. Now both of you will have to suffer the consequences of your actions." The Plarisian said smugly.  
  
"What actions! She hasn't done anything! She hadn't even been born yet when that planet was destroyed!" Harper exploded at the elder, who held up his hand and walked back behind the table.  
  
The Plarisian's gaze turned hard and he gave Harper a look that could have killed a Nightsider. "That planet, young man, was the home of four billion of my people. All of which are now dead!"  
  
"And her fate is not for you to decide, boy. We may have decided she was innocent in court, but now we will never know."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Because of your actions we come to the conclusion that your friend here is guilty, otherwise you would not have tried to rescue her. So now the both of you will pay the consequences. You will be executed at dawn." The Plarisian waved his hand and motioned for the guard to take them out of the room.   
  
"Wait a minute! You can't do this!" Both Trance and Harper screamed and kicked as they were dragged away by the massive Plarisian guards and thrown into a nearby cell.   
  
The cell wasn't as dark or murky as the one they had last been in. But it had another aura to it. Hopelessness, death.....  
  
"Dammit!" Harper kicked one of the stone walls in frustration as he turned to see Trance collapsed on the ground, her head in her knees and her tail wrapped around her.  
  
He walked over, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her into his lap, cradeling her between her knees. "Hey, it'll be OK, Dylan and Beka and the others are probably already on their way."  
  
"They killed him...." Trance said, trying, unsuccesfully to stifle back tears. "He didn't even do anything and they killed him." She sobbed into Harper's shoulder as he held her in his arms, lending her his support and brushing a purple strand of hair out of her eyes.  
  
"He's OK now, he can be with his family."  
  
"He shouldn't have had to die."  
  
"No..no, he shouldn't have had to die. Hey Trance?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Did you umm...did you mean what you said, on the Andromeda?"  
  
Trance wiggled in Harpers arms to turn around and face him. She looked into his deep blue eyes and sighed, 'damn! He's getting himself killed because of me, because I love him, I never should have left home, now I'm putting what few friends I have in danger.'  
  
"Umm.....yeah, yeah, I did."  
  
Harper smiled a sad smile, and his eyes turned glassy at the threat of unshed tears, as his lips descended on hers. Closing his eyes he kissed her slowly, but with increasing passion. Pausing he looked up into Trance's brown eyes.  
  
Smiling for the first time in the past 12 hours Trance said, "Mmmm, well, it's about time you did that."  
  
"Excuse me?" Harper asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know if you've noticed but it's not like you have done anything about it."  
  
"Hey! Isn't it you who's always telling me about the boy asks girl concept?"  
  
"That's not the point, you're not aloud to blame me for waiting until we're about to die to finally kiss you."  
  
"Well then maybe I'll just have to initiate the next one." Trance smiled and leaned in and kissed him. Harper leaned forward, laying her on her back.  
  
"Harper..." Trance said, trying hard to catch her breath.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I think you should know something."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I've never actually...that is to say..I haven't ever." Trance was turning redder by the minute and she looked up to see Harper with a big grin on his face.  
  
"Seamus Zelazny Harper, are you laughing at me?" Trance frowned and squirmed under his body.  
  
"Never, I would never laugh at the sparkly purple babe that is Trance Gemini." Harper responded, smiling.  
  
"Well as much as I appreciate that there is still the little fact that I have never actually...and..."  
  
Harper put his finger up to Trance's lips to quiet her, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear. "I love you Trance Gemini."   
  
Trance looked up at Harper and kissed him again, giving into his embrace.  
  
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"This is pointless and full hardy, even if we had been able to pull a stunt like this off earlier. Now the security around them with be twice as heavy." Tyr sulked while walking behind Beka and Dylan.  
  
"Tyr...SHUT UP!" Both Dylan and Beka yelled at Tyr before turning back around and continuing down the streets of Quintal while looking for the Plarisian military base.  
  
They had found the Maru on the other side of the planet and had followed, what they thought was the route Harper had taken to the planets main city. The city was bustling while people prepared for the coming dawn. Beka shuddered in discust. This is sick, all these people were running around all excited because there is going to be an execution, an execution of my crew, my friends.  
  
Dylan turned around to face Tyr and Beka, "OK, here's what we're going to do, Beka, talk to the locals. See if you can find out where they are being held in the compound. Tyr, you're coming with me, we're going to have a little chat with the Plarisian elders. We'll meet in front of the Plarisian military base in 3 hours."  
  
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Beka had been wandering the streets of Quintal for over 2 hours, and she was getting worried that she wouldn't be able to find any information on Harper and Trance. It seems that the Plarisian elders sent out a planet wide notice, telling the people not only about Trance and Harper, but about Dylan and the rest of the crew of Andromeda as well. Because when ever she went up to someone to ask them questions they would either back away slowly or give her a dirty look. One Plarisian, that looked to be about 8 years old, even spit on her.  
  
She walked up to the front of the Plarisian military base where she found Dylan and Tyr waiting, with very solemn looks on their faces.  
  
"So I take it you had just about as much luck as I did?" Beka asked sarcastically, shuving her hands into the pockets of her work pants.  
  
Dylan turned to see Beka walking toward them. "The Plarisian elders say that the crimes of Trance's people, combined with the Harper's break in, that they don't deserve to have a trial."  
  
"That is the biggest joke I have ever heard, they were just looking for a reason not to go through a trial. I told you that she would only be a marder to them. Now they have two." Tyr was leaning against one of the large support beams that held up the bases large, decorative mantle.  
  
"Well then I guess we're going to have to do this the Nietzchean way." Dylan pulled his Force lance out of its holster at his waist. "We'll blast our way in."  
  
"Well it's about time you came to your senses." Tyr began to walk up the steps of the base and then turned to look at Beka. "Are you coming?"   
  
Beka pulled her Force lance from its habitual place at her side. "Let's rock and roll."  
  
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"Hey." Trance rolled over on her side and looked up into Harper's blue eyes.  
  
"Hey yourself." Harper said, smiling.   
  
"It's almost dawn."  
  
"Yeah, it is."  
  
Harper brushed a piece of blond hair out of Trance's face and kissed her softly.  
  
That was when the door to their cell opened to reveal two very large Plarisian guards. "Well..isn't this sweet. The two little convicts are bonding." The guard said in a mocking sing song voice.  
  
"Get up, it's time for the show."  
  
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Dun Dun Dun!!! Next chapter will be up as soon as I get my computer fixed.  
  
  



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